Any of several verb forms used to talk about the future. The shall/will constructions are most commonly used for prediction: “It will rain”; “I shall thank you later.” The going to construction is a variant of this: “You’re going to hate this.” There is no accepted form of the future tense in English, as there is, for example, in French. English can use a present-tense or a past-tense verb to indicate future. “I am going to work nights next week.” “I’m off now.” “I was leaving for France when she came round.” “I found the place where the match was going to take place.” Grammarians give these variations such names as “pure future”, “future progressive”, and “future perfect” (see tense).